Update from Rep. Larsen about govt. shut down

Statement by Representative Rick Larsen: I've heard from a few folks who think there’s too much of a partisan blame game going on in this shutdown. So let me lay out the facts and you can decide for yourself.

The House has passed three Republican bills that would either defund, delay or dismantle the Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare) as a condition to funding the rest of the government.

The Senate voted to reject each of those House bills. Instead, they voted to fund the government at the Republican spending level without defunding Obamacare.

Here's the thing though: House leaders will not let us vote on these bills that passed the Senate.

Enough House Republicans and Democrats have said they would vote for a clean budget bill if they had the chance. We could open the government back up in an hour if we were just allowed to vote on the Senate bill.

In the meantime, House Republicans have proposed bills that would open up some parts of the government piece-by-piece. Here’s the problem with that approach: Veterans don’t just depend on the VA. They also use housing and education loans. Mothers and their infants don’t just need nutrition assistance. They rely on Head Start and job training programs. Americans battling cancer don’t just rely on the NIH for treatment. They depend on the life-saving research and other immunizations the NIH provides.

The American people deserve their entire government open and serving them.

So as we're moving into Day 5 of this unnecessary shutdown, it bears repeating: We would end this shutdown in an hour if we were just allowed to vote on a clean bill to reopen the government.